The candidate who did not lie in his campaign material, did not attempt to disenfranchise voters at several county conventions, did not help install a paid advisor as party executive director, did not headline a retreat discussing how to effectively marginalize his party’s base, and did not employ a crooked, Tammany Hall thug as chief adviser just won, and the Republican Party, having chosen the path Cantor exemplified, has the opportunity to be a more representative party and to change course before November.

Over the past few months, I have done little but cover this race and the Renee Ellmers/Frank Roche race in North Carolina. I intended to expose for PJ Media readers the insiders game that the “GOP Establishment” vs. conservative/Tea Party rift has become, putting it this way back on March 18:

Were my money and resources at stake, no current House GOP member better embodies the party’s leadership rot than he: his incessantly measured, strategically incoherent tacking reveals a party now guided by advisor-class tutelage, not conservatism. Additionally, his status as party-protected and groomed future speaker establishes the taking of his seat as a viable means for delivering a message to leadership.

The tenancies of Cantor and other “establishment” Republicans deserve sunlight. I intend to provide some here at Self-Evident over the following weeks with this “Moderate Danger” series. I expect these postings will expose the situation in a manner not generally considered during the typical “RINO” vs. conservative debate, at least in terms of winning:

Always, we argue of which strain of Republican is more palatable on Election Day. Instead, we should first be discussing and exposing — from local sheriff races to presidential primaries — just how many roadblocks the GOP lays down in the path of viable conservative candidates.

And this, on March 19:

The problem with a GOP leadership consisting entirely of moderates arises in its tendency to muscle out conservative representatives from conservative districts — and I believe this stems from moderate ideology being more slanted towards statism in general, though that’s a separate topic. But leadership simply is not allowing conservatives to be accountable to their electorates. And worse, the establishment is violating its pledge to remain neutral during primary season.

Leadership does not allow Tea Party/conservative representatives to serve their districts in the manner each district prefers, and with accountability to his or her campaign platforms and promises which secured electoral victory.

That’s the root. Tactics.

I figured the Cantor/Brat primary would exemplify the muscling-out of conservatives, and I was right. I received pressure individually, I began to hear skin-crawling accounts of behind-the-scenes thuggery, and I was able to expose some of it for you. I wrote about 50% of what I heard, I wish I could have written all of it to give you a better picture, but trust that there was quite a bit I held back with to protect sources.

I also have confirmation that these pieces did manage to put a stop to some of the chicanery, and wish I could share that as well.

I saw the Brat post election interviews on Fox, and I like him a lot, we need more repubs like him He has all the right values, and articulates them well, and in a way that can appeal to working class dems, and dems who value civil liberties. It looks like reports of the tea parties death is greatly exagerated (although I heard that the big money national tea party groups did not give him much help, this victory came from grass roots tea partiers, and alternative media commentators).

Actually, there is. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/meet-jack-trammell-the-democrat-who-will-face-david-brat-the-man-who-beat-eric-cantor/2014/06/10/df00f972-f10a-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.htmlDailyKos and Democrat mailers have been advertising this tactic for months now: Encourage Democrats to vote for Brat and wait until the last minute to put their own candidate out there. Trammel sounds like the perfect candidate for (unfortunately) a growing segment of our voting public so far. "He has directed the school’s disability support services department and its honors program and serves as an associate professor of sociology, specializing in disability issues in higher education.Trammell is also a frequently published author, having most recently published “The Richmond Slave Trade: The Economic Backbone of The Old Dominion” in 2012. He has also served as president of the Blue Ridge Virginia Writer’s Club.A Kentucky native, according to his campaign biography, Trammell lives on a small farm in Louisa County with his wife and seven children."

the mistake is confusing the GOP establishment for conservative governance. It's not; it is merely a different wing of the Big Govt Party. There are some differences on the edges perhaps, but the mainline GOP wishes to control your life as much as the Dems, too, and it has the same appetite for your money. The only variables are where the money will be spent and where the control will be exerted.

It is this duopoly that not only makes the likes of Brat possible but also necessary. No one knows whether Mr. Brat would be a man of principle if elected or if power would go to his head like it has to so many others. But it is important that outcomes like this one occur with greater frequency unless we the people want to continue pretending that vast differences lie between R's and D's.

At least they cant say much about Koch money payoffs, since the national big money tea party groups did not help Brat much at all. This ws a win for the grass roots tea party, and tea party alternative media commentaators, which is where the tea party has always been strongest anyway.